Arrived evening of February 24th, 2011
We arrived on a cold, blustery night after a layover in Athens to end our long journey from Singapore. Luckily, the Aegean Airline staff strike was the day before and we weren’t affected. Our booking was with Caldera Studios, but we were quickly greeted by Fannis who owns and operates Aroma Suites next door. The Caldera Studios was under renovation, so he put us up in another room at his place down the street. He was surprised to hear we wanted a single bed instead of two twins, but after some discussion he agreed to give us a room with a full-sized single bed. The room was well below our expectations, but at this point we were willing tired and wanted to go to sleep. He had noticed our disappointment, and agreed to let us use the honeymoon suite the following night.
After a rough night’s sleep, we awoke to a beautiful rainbow cascading into the waters of the caldera. The sky was overcast, but it was amazing to look down the cliff and see the rainbow end in the ocean. We enjoyed a lovely Greek breakfast on the patio overlooking the caldera complete with Illy coffee, paninis, coffee cake, and Greek yogurt (we thought it was cream cheese). Milo’s Greek cousin decided to join us for breakfast, so we already captured the touristic “Santorini cat” photos. We hiked back towards the town center of Fira, and stopped along the road at a cute souvenir store where we bought some beautiful blue domed cathedral oil paintings and some knickknacks. We ate gyros at Lucky’s and tried the local Mythos beer before taking the bus to Oia where we spent the afternoon being chased by a pack of dogs. The bus ride was about 15 minutes through windy mountainside roads overlooking the island’s Eastern, convex coast. Heather spotted an old, overturned car in the bottom of one of the ravines, which didn’t settle our stomachs from the driver’s careless attitude. He was smoking a cigarette with one hand, talking on the cell with the other, and driving with who knows what. Oia lies on the Northern tip of the crescent shaped island, and is one of the most famous spots for seeing the iconic blue-domed cathedrals and thatch-roofed windmills. The bus drops off in the city square, which isn’t more than a small parking lot with a one grocery shack and small coffee shop. We started our way down the corner alley leading to the coast; Heather was sure we would get lost. The alleys are surprisingly easy to navigate, but you have to watch your step for the occasional, yet surprisingly common dog poo. We met our first dogs outside a bookshop where a local had placed a bowl of food. Our dog count continued to grow as they announced to each other that “the tourists are here!” After a few hours of photo-snapping under the umbrella, we had gathered a total of six dogs that followed our every move. “Don’t make eye contact was our motto.” One even tried to bite Ben, as it attacked his baggy jeans begging for food. We had to hide out for a while in the local grocery store, hoping they would find other prey. Unfortunately, the other prey never came. It was nice being the only tourists in such a beautiful town. The sun decided to come out so we could take some better pictures, as if our picture count wasn’t high enough yet. To warm up we had some hot cocoa at the local coffee shop where the locals didn’t seem to mind the “No Smoking” signs pasted everywhere. They had to stop their card game just to open the door, since the place was the size of a large closet. But it provided plenty of warmth until the bus arrived for the return to Fira. Upon our arrival in Fira, we decided to check on our “honeymoon suite” status. Fannis didn’t seem to remember his promise, but eventually gave us an even better honeymoon suite because he felt so badly. Sometimes, it pays to complain! He opened up some of his homemade wine and welcomed us to our new and improved room, complete with an in-ground jacuzzi and canopy bed. Fannis recommended the neighboring Ellis Restaurant for dinner. We enjoyed eggplant dip with bread, mastello cheese, mousaka, and grilled pork, all accompanied with a jug of red house wine. Heather’s favorite was the eggplant dip, but the mastello cheese was also memorable. The waiter was kind enough to give us Chocolate Mousse on the house, and a local sitting at the table next to us bought us another jug of wine! He ended up being quite a talker, and even asked for our Facebook info. Heather quickly came up with Ben Jackson and Heather Breuer as aliases to avoid any stalking. Looking back though, he was a friendly local carpenter who was probably lonely during the off-season. We ended up using his recommended car rental company, Mano’s, the following day.
The following morning, we enjoyed another amazing breakfast on the caldera before heading to Mano’s to pick up our Red Suzuki Swift. After putting about 8 Euros of gas in the tank, we “swiftly” reached Pyrgos and continued up the steep road to the tallest point of Santorini, Moni Profiti Ilia. From here, we could see the entire island. After descending, we drove to the black beach of Kamari. This beach was a little run-down and unkempt, but beautiful when facing the sea. We continued next to the red beach of Akrotiri where we found a disappointing boulder coastline due to the high tide. Akrotiri lies near the Southern tip, where we continued on to see the lighthouse. From this angle, you can see the “white” island that is usually hidden by the larger black island in the center of the caldera. We began our return trip to Fira with a stop at the second black beach, Perissa. This was clearly the nicer of the two black beaches, and actually had some restaurants and stores open for business. But the recommended restaurant was overpriced, and we were hankering for another cheap gyro. After returning to Mano’s, we still had some gas left in the tank, so Ben decided it would be a good idea to try our luck taking better pictures in Oia with the sunshine. We quickly realized we had chosen the slower, scenic route, and at the halfway mark the Tank Empty light came on! After climbing a few more hills up to Oia, we quickly made a detour back towards Fira to find a gas station. Luckily, we were able to coast to the station halfway back from Oia to Fira. Heather was pretty worried we would run out of gas with no one to help and miss our flight to Athens, but Ben lived to see another day! Fanni's Russian carpenter drove us to the airport, and we continued our anniversary trip in Athens…
